AEW Dark Review - March 15, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Brandon Cutler and The Young Bucks def. The Dark Order (Alan "5" Angels, Evil Uno and Colt Cabana)

It's rare we see Cutler in action nowadays (which I'm not complaining about) and it's even more rare Young Bucks wrestle on Dark. Upon looking it up, I discovered they haven't had a match on this show since July 2020 when they beat the duo of Cutler and Peter Avalon. Cutler's a total goof, but at least he's shown more personality in his current role than he did previously. This was an entertaining six-man tag team affair and I appreciated that it wasn't as much of a spot-fest as I was expecting it to be.

Ruby Soho def. Ashley D'Amboise

Soho continues to be very over in front of the crowds on Dark, but it's sad that she's become a regular on this show when she should be on Dynamite and Rampage. I'm sure there will come a time in a month or two where she'll resurface on the main shows and lay claim to a title shot because she's racked up so many wins this year, but as I've said time and time again, how much do these wins really mean when they're all against enhancement talent? This was a good, energetic outing.

Josh Woods def. AC Adams

Woods was acknowledged by Tony Schiavone as the ROH Pure Champion during the post-match interview, but Woods wasn't announced as such during his entrance and he didn't come out with the belt, so I'm not sure if he's still technically the champ or not. Regardless, I'm stoked AEW plans on using him now that Tony Khan has purchased Ring of Honor. Woods is very talented and I'd love if he stuck around in ROH while making occasional appearances for AEW. He made short work of Adams here.

FTW Champion Ricky Starks def. Darian Bengston (Non-Title)

Yes, Starks has been the FTW Champion since last summer, but it's not all that impressive when you consider he's barely defended the thing along with how it doesn't mean anything. I guess it's a nice little prop for Starks to carry around, if nothing else. It's about time we started to see more of Starks in action. The dude is a star and this was a solid showcase for him. That said, I still feel like he's being booked like a stepping stone for guys like Keith Lee.

Diamante def. Session Moth Martina

Martina made her AEW debut just recently, and although she's a competent worker, I don't care for her trying to get her gimmick over during the match. The gimmick sucks, by the way, much like it did during her time in ROH. Diamante deserves all the focus considering how underutilized she is. Once they got past the Martina's silliness, this was decent. We'll see if Diamante's Dark wins ever get her back to Dynamite or Rampage, but I'm not holding my breath.

The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds) def. Chaos Project

This was a rematch from a recent match these two teams had in the main event of Elevation. It wasn't exciting enough the first time to warrant a rematch, but here we are. The best thing I can say about it is that it wasn't positioned as the main event again. That isn't to say this was bad, but I really could do without so much Chaos Project on the Dark shows as of late. Silver and Reynolds made this bearable.

"Legit" Leyla Hirsch def. Marina Tucker

Hirsch has been rolling as a heel this year and has been featured more than at any other point in her AEW tenure. That makes me happy because I think she has a lot of upside. She fell short against Thunder Rosa last week on Dynamite in that number one contender's match, so this was the rebound win she needed and I liked how dominant it was. Her issues with Red Velvet aren't over considering Velvet cost her that matchup.

Top Flight def. Ariya Daviari and Invictus Khash

Daivari and Khash aren't your typical enhancement team. Not only is Daivari a somewhat notable name from his time in WWE, he and Khash have lasted longer against their opponents than just about any other unsigned team aside from maybe Bear Country. Meanwhile, it's awesome having Top Flight back. Dante was well on his way to becoming a singles star, but Top Flight obviously have unfinished business as a tandem. Darius has some ring rust to work off, but this was a quality contest on the whole.

Preston "10" Vance def. Aaron Solo

The way AEW uses Vance is weird because he's built up on the Dark shows but never wins whenever it matters most on the main shows. Even if he's made to look credible in defeat, there's almost never any follow-up. At least he had the chance to beat up a familiar face in Aaron Solo in this match. It was pretty one-sided as it should have been, though I could have done without the interference from Nick Comoroto. Sure, it made for one suspenseful nearfall, but it wasn't necessary.

Emi Sakura def. Shalonce Royal

Oh great, a match between one of my least favorite women's wrestlers in AEW and one of my least favorite enhancement wrestlers AEW uses. The actual in-ring work in this match was passable, but the constant signing was insufferable. I can see people arguing that it's "unique," but it was almost impossible to pay attention to anything they were doing because the singing was so damn annoying. I understand they have to give Sakura the occasional win, but I wish it came in a better bout.

Lance Archer def. Sage Scott

I don't think Archer has made a single appearance on AEW TV since losing to Adam Page in the main event of Dynamite last month. I can't say I'm shocked, but it is disappointing that's been demoted back to Dark duty. If nothing else, his squashes are always a treat and this was no exception. This was almost a two-for-one deal because he also beat up Jake St. Patrick at ringside as well. He probably should have won quicker than he did, but I have no issue with the destruction being drawn out a bit.

Daniel Garcia and 2point0 def. Luke Sampson, Mike Reed and Shayne Stetson

Garcia and 2point0 weren't announced as members of Jericho Appreciation Society because I believe this was taped prior to last week's Dynamite. Excalibur and Taz talked about the newfound alliance on commentary, but I assume that's because their commentary is dubbed in later. I mentioned this last week, but I find the new group to be unnecessary and they don't have much chemistry on paper. The three of them are talented, so hopefully they can make it work. This one-sided squash gave them some credibility as a unit.

Frankie Kazarian def. Jora Johl

As previously noted, this was taped over Revolution weekend, so I'm curious if Johl will stick around as a member of The Andrade Family Office now that Matt Hardy (who recruited Johl in the first place) has been kicked out of the group. Johl has only ever been associated with the stable on the Dark shows and rarely on AEW TV, so it's possible he gets the boot, too. I wish we saw more of Kazarian on AEW TV, but at least we're seeing him at all. This was a well-worked main event but didn't feature anything out of the ordinary.

Overall Show

We were back in Universal Studios for Dark this week and the show was back to being over an hour long with 13 matches. I'm sorry for sounding like a broken record, but that's way too many. I can certainly pick out a few that could have been cut. All in all, this was a serviceable show. It definitely dragged and didn't feature many memorable matches, but The Young Bucks making a rare appearance in the opener was cool.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews